What can I expect from a BH
Lactation Consultation?
Are you curious what exactly happens at a Lactation Consultation??
Before we meet, you'll schedule your appointment online. You'll receive an email from our staff confirming our appointment, then an email asking you to fill out e-forms.
A few things to know about us as you have us as a guest in your home:
- We don't care what your house looks or smells like
- We will immediately wash my hands when we enter
- We wear shoes we can take off on instant request before entering your door
- We’re all pet-friendly (though please secure mean dogs)
- It’s ok if your baby pees, poops or pukes on us
And then it all begins...
- If your sweet baby isn't super hungry when we arrive at your home, or you arrive at our office, we'll chat a while we wash our hands, get our lactation scale ready, etc.
- If you already filled out your online appointment forms, we can jump right in to the consult; if not, and if baby lets us, we'll take some time to complete online forms
- If we're at your house, you'll show us the areas where you nurse, or want to nurse, and tell us about your support system, if they aren't at the consult (dad, grandma, best friend, etc.).
- You may or may not show us what's going on with your breasts/nipples right way (we will see this, too, when nursing starts). While uncommon, we may respectfully ask to touch your breasts in order to feel what you are feeling (if lumps, plugs or breast infections are present).
- We’ll ask to touch/hold/examine your baby, and then assess the baby's posture, state and, with gloves on we’ll assess your baby's mouth/lips/tongue via finger exam.
- We'll weigh your baby before the feed.
- If we observe anything pressing, we'll talk about it, and if its something urgent (rarely happens during consults), this is usually where we may buzz your doctor. If it isn't urgent, but needs to be run by another provider, we will buzz them after the feeding
- If all is well, we’ll observe a feed and we’ll do our best to verbally walk you through improvements to positioning and latch
- We’ll listen to you tell us what is going on with the feed, and we’ll talk you through what we see baby doing, pointing out what is normal and what we can improve.
- We may ask to to touch your breasts if needed to help position your nipple for latching, and we may hold your baby simultaneously in order to gain understanding of how your baby moves during positioning and latch (which can give me clues to certain breastfeeding issues)
- With your permission, and on your phone or camera, we may record short parts of the consult for you to have as a reference of my latch-teaching.
- We'll weigh sweetpea again to see exactly how breastmilk was transferred
- If you pump, we will use your pump together so that I may teach you how to determine your flange size, how to use your pump more efficiently, etc.
- If you're a mom who plans on bottle-feeding, we may go over bottle-feeding for your particular situation
- If you're a working mom, time-permitting, we may go over some back-to-work topics, or we can decide to meet specifically for a Back-to-Work Prep Class or 1:1 appointment dedicated to returning to work.
- Based on the general appointment events, your health history, baby's overall big-picture, we will help you create an achievable and specific-to-you plan to help you meet your breastfeeding goals. These will be written out and left with you, or uploaded to to our patient-portal immediately after our time together.
- Some appointments require a follow-up consult to gauge results. We may schedule this before we leave, or we may play things by ear. If it's a housecall, please know also that you’re welcome at our office, too, though seeing you at home is perfect with us- whichever works best for you.
- If we recommend that you or your baby need to see other providers (your obgyn, pediatrician, etc.) we’ll will write up a consult report for you to give your provider.
- We’ll make sure that we have answered all of your questions, and let you know that we’re available to call or secure-message for future questions related to our consultation.
- We’ll run your previously uploaded form of payment, and if you’re paying out of pocket, we will give you a claim form to submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement.
- If you're a hugger, we'll hug good-bye and if you aren't a hugger, we'll peace-out...and stay breast-friends!
Now that you know what to expect from your time with us, we look super forward to supporting you and your growing family!